


Good Samaritan

by DoctorBane



Category: Batman - All Media Types, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: AU, Child Loss, Crossover, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:01:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24508837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorBane/pseuds/DoctorBane
Summary: Rick and his survivors get into trouble on the move, when rescue comes from an unexpected source.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Good Samaritan

"Hey man, we gotta stop soon". Daryl looked across at Rick.  
"We can't yet, we're too exposed." Behind him, Carl tried to ignore the heat. His father's old hat kept the worst of the sun off him, but he was still tired. Beth was carrying Judith, who was asleep. Everyone had agreed that she needed water, but they were running low.  
They had been crossing a huge field ever since the road they'd been following was blocked. It was open, which meant they could see walkers. It also meant that anyone else could spot them from a mile off.  
Glenn and Maggie were holding up, but were beginning to tire. Carol and Abraham looked as if they could keep walking forever. Likewise, Rosita seemed to be managing fine. Eugene however looked about ready to collapse. He hadn’t said anything since they’d left the road. He was afraid they'd up and leave him ever since he'd lied to them about being able to cure the plague.  
Nobody could really tell how Michonne was feeling. She kept mostly to herself, apart from lightly teasing Carl occasionally. She even managed to get a smile out of him, not that he’d admit it.  
"Look man, I get that we're exposed. But if we don't find something soon, we are gonna have to think about making camp here," Daryl said, his voice even rougher than usual. The lack of water was affecting everyone.  
"We can't do that, we got hardly any water, no food, and if a hoard comes along we are screwed," Rick snapped.  
"Don't you think I know that?" Daryl said. "But if we all end up dead from heat exhaustion or something it won't matter..." He trailed off, squinting into the dusk. There was something up ahead. "Hey Rick, you see that?"  
"I see it," Rick nodded. “Looks like a barn.”  
"I'll go on ahead, check it out."  
"Take Michonne with you, just in case."  
  
Michonne jogged ahead with Daryl. She still wasn't comfortable travelling with so many others after having been on her own. It had taken some getting used to just travelling with Andrea...  
Never mind that. No good thinking about her. They slowed down as they approached the barn, taking opposite sides. They opted to circle it, then met on the other side.  
  
Neither of them were sure what to make of the scarecrow. It looked recent, yet they couldn't find any sign of life around the place. The barn was locked tight. Maybe whoever stayed here had gone for supplies?  
"What should we do about the scarecrow?" Michonne asked.  
"What about it?"  
"Well, what if it's a walker?" she said. Shit. Daryl hadn't thought of that.  
"I could shoot it with my crossbow. It'd be silent, wouldn't alert anyone."  
"What if it's not a walker? What if it's a person?" Michonne hissed.  
Daryl swore under his breath. He didn't want to risk killing someone. He didn't kill unless he had no choice.  
"Fine, I'll have a look closer. If it's a walker I'll end it," he said.  
  
Daryl stepped up, and looked. Whatever it was, it stank of death. Straw was coming out of it's sleeves. It wasn’t moving though. If it was a walker they would have known by now. "Hey, wait," he said. "I think it's a guy."  
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the scarecrow moved.  
  
“What the fu-”. Before Daryl could finish his curse, the scarecrow sprayed something in his face, and he collapsed. The figure in front of him changed. It was his father. He was furious; Daryl had been bad. Daryl cowered as his father grew in size. He was ten, and his father was beating him with a belt.  
  
Michonne ran to Daryl. She didn't know what was wrong, he was just thrashing on the floor and crying out in pain. She looked up as the scarecrow gassed her.  
Walkers. Walker everywhere. She could hear her baby screaming, but couldn't find him. She felt something tearing from within her. She looked at her stomach, and screamed as a tiny dead hand burst from within. The baby's crying got louder, only to be replaced by the growling of the dead.  
  
The others were running. They'd heard Daryl crying out, then followed by Michonne. They got there just as the scarecrow had thrown open the barn doors, and released the dead from within. They swarmed out, stumbling and falling over each other in their attempts to get out.  
"Walkers!" Rick yelled. Everyone grabbed their weapons, and went for them.  
  
Abraham grabbed Michonne and started to carry her away from the carnage. She struggled and fought, but Abraham took it and kept going. Carol grabbed hold of Daryl, trying to drag him away. He kept thrashing on the ground though, and Carol realised she wasn't able to move him. There was a walker bearing down on them. She stuck it in the head, and it dropped. Then standing over Daryl, she drew her gun and began to fire.  
"Rick!" Carol shouted. Rick knocked back a walker and turned. "Help Daryl!"  
Racing towards them, Rick grabbed Daryl's feet and dragged him away from the melee with Carol providing covering fire.  
  
Everyone was too tired. They'd been walking all day, and there were just too many walkers. Glenn stuck his knife in the head of a walker going for Maggie and shot another one that was getting close to Beth and Judith. Just as he was beginning to lose hope though, he heard a sound.  
"Wait a second... Is that a helicopter?" Glenn said. He looked, and in the dusk he saw something he never would have expected in a million years.  
Shoving off a walker, he said "Maggie, you see that too right?" She nodded at him as she stabbed another one, seemingly dumbstruck.  
Rick glanced at the helicopter. What was it with him always seeing them?  
The helicopter was massive and black, and getting closer by the second. It was lowering, and the side door slid open. A figure stood, surveying the chaos below.  
"Help us!" Glenn shouted. The figure was huge, akin to a gargoyle. A cloak whipped in the wind as it stood a moment longer, almost as if pondering it's decision.  
Then it dropped.  
  
Carl was letting off shots, but he was slowly becoming surrounded. He was aware of Glenn calling for help, but not to whom. He sensed a walker closing behind him, and was sure that this was it.  
Then he felt the walker behind him get pulled away. He turned just in time to see other walkers falling. A man dressed in brown and grey with a black mask was fighting them. Not with weapons, but his hands. He was fast and strong, dodging and weaving, flipping over them.  
"Go! Get to the helicopter!" the man ordered him. It took a second for Carl to process this command, and then he ran.  
  
Abraham was having a hell of a time. Michonne was on the ground outta the game, and he was keeping the cold ones at bay. Truth be told, he wasn't paying her much mind. The fever, the rage had taken hold of him, and he wasn't going to stop fighting till either he was dead or they were safe.  
There was a noise on the edge of existence that sounded familiar, but he didn't listen. Someone grabbed him by the shoulder and he spun, ready to -  
Rosita ducked his attack. This caught his attention, and he stopped.  
"ABRAHAM! There's a chopper, we have to go now!" Rosita shouted at him, firing off a shot.  
"Chopper?" he mumbled, and turned. Well whaddya know? There was.  
"We have to get Michonne on board!" Rosita ordered.  
  
Everyone was running for the helicopter, Glenn and Rick carrying Daryl between them. They didn't have time to question their luck, or where it had come from. The hoard was attracted by their mysterious saviour, but the distraction wouldn't last forever. As soon as the last person got on board, the helicopter started to lift off.  
"Who's flying it?" Carl shouted. They looked towards the cockpit. Empty.  
"It must be some sort of autopilot," Rick shouted over the helicopter's rotors.  
"We gotta stop it!" Glenn yelled. "We can't leave him behind!"  
"We have to!" Rick said. "It's too dangerous! Besides, can you fly a helicopter?"  
Glenn looked out. The hoarde was still down there. But where was the guy?  
There he was. He was pointing up at the chopper. There was a loud clunk, and he seemed to fly up. He grabbed the edge of the helicopter and climbed up and in. Closing the door he walked up to the cockpit as if he’d done this a thousand times. Sitting in the chair he started talking, but not to anyone present.  
"Alfred, I found a group of survivors. I'm bringing them back home - two of them look like they've been gassed by Crane."  
"What on earth would the good doctor be doing out there?" came the response from over the radio.  
"I don't know. Maybe he's just surviving. He was never much of a fighter, the gas could be a way of disabling people so he can rob them easier. Or maybe he hasn't changed, and is still trying to torment people. Either way, he brought down a group of the dead upon them."  
"And you decided to step in and save them? Even after the world has ended, you're still trying to save people."  
"Just because the world's gone to hell doesn't mean we have to, Alfred."  
With that, the man turned around to face his passengers. "You don't need to worry, you're safe now."  
Rick walked up to him. "You wanna explain who you are, and just what the hell happened back there?  
"Of course." The man pulled off his mask, revealing a weathered face. He looked like he might have been handsome once upon a time, but he'd clearly lived a violent life. Scars were dotted on his face with the worst of them around his mouth and chin, and his nose looked like it had been broken several times. What little hair he had left was grey. He was huge, bigger even than Abraham, and wore a battered brown duster over weathered grey armor. Emblazoned over the chest was a faded black bat. Rick looked at the bat, then up at the face. He’d seen this symbol on the news, a lifetime ago.  
"Before the world went to hell, I was known as the Batman. Now I'm just Bruce."  
Glenn laughed and punched the air. "Wait, you mean Bruce Wayne? I knew it!" Everyone stared at him, and Glenn shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry man, keep going."  
"Anyway," Bruce said, "I used to protect Gotham City from the worst scum humanity had to offer. It seems as though you may have had an encounter with one of them - Jonathan Crane, also called Scarecrow."  
"Okay then, Mr Batman," Rick said. "Now tell us what happened to our friends!" With this, he pointed at Michonne and Daryll. They seemed to have stopped screaming out, possibly from sheer exhaustion, and were huddled in the corner of the helicopter.  
"I think they were exposed to a type of gas by Crane," Bruce said. "It makes them see their worst fears. That's why I'm taking you all back to my home - I can give them the antidote."  
  
The rest of the flight was uneventful. Everyone decided not to antagonise the man who had risked his life for them - especially because they still needed to help Daryl and Michonne. Bruce had said whatever they were sprayed with caused them to see their worst fears. Nobody wanted to think what scared Daryl and Michonne like this.  
  
Abraham was sitting on the floor. He looked at Rosita. "Hey uh, about back there-"  
"I know you didn't mean it," she said.  
"But I could have killed you-"  
"That's bold of you to say," she said, grinning. The grin vanished. "But you have got to keep control of yourself. One of these days you are going to hurt someone."  
  
"Hey man," Glenn said to Bruce. "Didn't you used to have some kind of magic cape?"  
"Not magic. Just high-tech, and it's easier not having to repair it as much," he replied.  
"One last question.” Glenn grinned. He never thought he’d talk to Batman. Now he was in his helicopter badgering him with questions and criticising his fashion sense. "You were talking to someone over a radio. Does that mean you have electricity?" Bruce almost smiled at the question.  
"Yes. There's an underground river which provides electricity via a hydroelectric generator. Assuming the generator doesn't break, we'll have electricity for a long time."  
"I might be able to help with that," came a voice from behind. Bruce turned to see Eugene.  
"I know my way around most any electronic device, generators included," Eugene said, not quite meeting Bruce's eye.  
"Don't trust anything he says," Rosita snapped. "He'll say anything to save his own ass."  
"Well, myself and my friend are capable electronically, but I'll certainly be glad of any extra assistance," Bruce said.  
"How much longer?" Rick said to Bruce.  
"We're just arriving now," Bruce stated, as a huge house came into view.  
  
Carl was surprised when the helicopter didn't land on the mansion as he had initially expected. Instead it headed for a waterfall behind it. "Why are we going into the waterfall?" Carl asked Bruce.  
“Wait, did he just say we’re going to fly into a waterfall?” Glenn said. Did they just get rescued by Batman only for him to kamikaze them into a cliff? The guy never had been famous for thinking things through.  
"That's where I park the helicopter," Bruce said.  
“Right, of course it is.” Glenn shook his head. “Say, do you have any parachutes on this thing? Not that I don’t trust you, but…” Bruce ignored him, piloting the helicopter through the waterfall and into what had to be the biggest cave any of them had ever seen. The cavern had huge metal platforms, with what appeared to be a small tank on one and a heavily armored plane on another. Beside those in a pool of water large enough to be classified as a small lake was a boat. Bruce landed the helicopter on a third, empty platform. Everyone disembarked, Abraham carrying Michonne while Bruce took Daryl.  
On a higher platform stood a massive computer, and a tall thin man in a suit.  
"Where are we?" Carl asked in awe, taking Judith from Beth.  
"Welcome to the Batcave," Bruce said, smiling for the first time since they'd met him. "This is my friend, Alfred. You'll be safe here."


End file.
